Olympic champion wins $175,000 by setting Chicago Marathon record

CHICAGO| Sammy Wanjiru approached the finish line at the Chicago Marathon with his arms outstretched on Sunday morning, and his celebratory gesture nearly cost the Kenyan thousands of dollars.

Wanjiru won his third major marathon in 14 months, and in the process, broke the 10-year course record by finishing the race in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 41 seconds, just one second faster than Khalid Khannouchi in 1999.

As Wanjiru neared the finish, he slowed down to raise his hands in the air, seemingly clueless that a $100,000 bonus awaited him if he broke the course record.

"No, no, no," Wanjiru said when asked if he knew what was at stake. "I did not think about the course record, I was just happy to see that I was the winner."

Executive race director Carey Pinkowski gave Wanjiru some good old-fashioned ribbing in the post-race news conference.

"I would've appreciated it if you were one second slower," said Pinkowski, a Hammond native. "We're OK, though. We're prepared (to give the bonus money)."

Wanjiru, who won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and captured the Flora London Marathon last April, set the record for the fastest marathon ever run on American soil. In addition to the $100,000 bonus, Wanjiru earned $75,000 for winning the race.

"When you have athletes the caliber of Sammy that agree to come to Chicago, that adds to the excitement and the tradition of this race," Pinkowski said. "We're very happy to have him here and hope he comes back next year to defend his title."

Wanjiru held off late-charging Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco by 23 seconds and fellow Kenyan Vincent Kipruto by 27 seconds.

In the women's race, Russian Liliya Shobukhova captured her first victory in just her second marathon by crossing the finish line in 2:25.56, 35 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Irina Mikitenko of Germany.

Shobukhova was part of a five-woman cluster that ran together throughout much of the race until the Russian started to pull away in the closing miles.

"After 35 kilometers, I knew that now it was time to fight for this," Shobukhova said. "I was going to fight by all means."

Chicago native Tera Moody led for the first eight miles of the race, but ultimately fell short in her quest to capture her hometown race. Moody set a personal-best time of 2:32.59.

"It was kind of cool to be able to lead the Chicago Marathon for a while," Moody said. "I was running through the streets with my last name on my bib, but people were calling me by my first name."

Crown Point's Erik Forehand was the top local finisher with a time of 2:30:59. Forehand's finish was good for 88th place overall. Last year, Forehand finished in 192nd place and crossed the finish line in 2:49:44.

Merrillville's Lindsay Hattendorf was the top local female finisher with a time of 2:48:46, good for 320th place.

32ND RUNNING OF THE CHICAGO MARATHON

Chicago Marathon highlights

Men's champion: Sammy Wanjiru (Kenya) 2:05.41.

Women's champion: Liliya Shobukhova (Russia), 2:25:56.

Top American men's finisher: Sergio Reyes (eighth overall) 2:15:30.

Top American women's finisher: Deena Kastor (sixth overall) 2:28:50.

Top local finisher: Erik Forehand of Crown Point (88th overall) 2:30:59.